~ Love. Angst. And Writing Books.

Monthly Archives: October 2009

Welcome back to the movie of my life where I cast Hollywood stars as my friends and family. Today I’m featuring the lovely smart and sweet Jennifer Garner as Amythyst Romero.

I met Amythyst here in Michigan shortly after her family had moved from the Bay Area. We’d recently moved from the Bay Area too. She was kind and friendly and we immediately liked each other. (I think.) She had kids about the same age as mine. And a bonus feature was that she had served in the Air Force. We had a LOT to talk about. While I love these photos, I’m sad I couldn’t get a good match of shots where they are both smiling. Amythyst is has a brightness in her smile and eyes that are magnetic and adorable. Also, look for Amythyst to be interviewed later as part of my Interview With a Soldier series. (hint hint, Amythyst.)

If you missed the other 3 people I cast, you can click through to see my husband Josh, his little sister Kari, and his older sister Heidi.

I’m so excited that today I get a chance to interview Sara Lewis Holmes, author of OPERATION YES. When I first heard about this book, I think I actually gasped in excitement. I was thinking, Yay, other people are writing young adult books about the military! And then I saw that it was from Scholastic imprint, Arthur A. Levine, which meant it was edited by the delightful Cheryl Klein. Even better. And then…I read it. And it was better still.

If I had to sum up this book, I’d pick my favorite line from it: Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a great battle. What heart! Of course, I don’t have to sum it up, so I’ll add that what also touched me about this book was the sense of community amidst the transience that being part of the military brings. Sara created a teacher character that brought improvisational theater into a sixth grade classroom on an Air Force base, which really lightened the kids lives from the planning/order/structure of what had come before her, and I think what is typical of military life. And when tragedy struck, the class pulled together to plan something that would not only help their quirky, wonderful, hurting teacher, but also the soldiers who are risking it all: it was called Operation Yes.

I understand that Sara didn’t grow up in a military family, but her husband is in the military. In her words, “When I married my husband, I was most definitely a “new recruit.” But military life is all my own two kids have ever known, so I drew upon our life together for the details of Operation Yes.

Jody: How many places have you lived and which has been your favorite?

Sara: My official bio says 11 states and 3 countries, but that includes some pre-AF life. I have good memories of most of those places, but not the moves themselves. All moves have some disaster involved with them, be it smashed dishes or lost friends. And I hate the smell of cardboard boxes!

I would live in Germany again—the Bavarian Alps are heaven on earth to me. Give me a large buttered and salted pretzel and a mountain to climb and I’m happy.

Jody: How many little green army men are in your home right now?

Sara: Three full bags. I’m hoping to use them on school visits and at book signings. I haven’t quite worked out my plan, but I’m sure those LGM will think of something spectacular.

Jody: I’m a HUGE Cheryl Klein fan and hope to some day share a cup of Lady Gray tea with her. Have you had the pleasure of doing this yourself? Please tell us a little about how wonderful it was to work with her.

Sara: Surprisingly, Cheryl and I have never met. We do all our work via email and the phone. But I’m finally going to get to see her in Austin for an SCBWI conference in January. We’ll drink some tea together then!

Cheryl is an extremely dedicated editor. She readily admits to being “intense” and I agree. Her passion for story is amazing. Working with her is like having another whole brain grafted on to mine—one that asks just the right questions to release what is not yet expressed on the page. Her ability to see and explain deep structure—she calls it being able to hear the rhythm of a story—is legendary. Plus, she’s quite funny and prone to doing things like sending me a Captain Underpants eraser with which to tackle my line edits.

Jody: Improvisational theater is an important part of your book. I know you’ve done a lot of improv, too. Besides inspiring this story, how has your work in improv impacted your writing?

Sara: I’m not actually an improv expert, although I enjoyed learning more about it for Operation Yes. I first learned about improv in high school when my drama teacher had us do quick skits based on three unrelated words. I was in a group with two boys and our words were: cactus, diamond, and cowboy. I ended up playing a cactus in distress. My name was Polly Pricklebutt.

Besides those memories, I drew upon the collected wisdom of improv troupes everywhere, including a book from the famed Second City players. I also went to a local theater games night, and got coaching from my yoga teacher, who happened to be a theater major. She’s the one who taught me how to fall down, as Miss Loupe does for Bo.

Knowing about the improv rule “yes and…” helps my writing because when I’m drafting or revising, it reminds me to acknowledge what I already have on the page while striving to add something fresh. Never block yourself. Instead, be kind and look for the one hook that you can use to propel yourself and the scene forward. It’s there. Reach for it.

Jody: Excellent advice, Polly. May I call you Polly? Perhaps that’s going a little far. Thank you so much for joining me today, Sara, and congratulations on this lovely book!

Sara: Thank you, Jody.

Visit Sara’s website and/or blog to learn more and then, of course, visit your local bookstore and buy her book.

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Magnolia had her last game of the season today and it was cold and muddy. What I love about my kiddo is that while she’s a total badass on the soccer field, she still brings her femininity and style to the game. Check it.

It’s a really cool thing to watch your kid’s confidence growing right in front of you. The first day–try outs–Magnolia begged us not make her play after all; she’d changed her mind thank you very much. Today, she was bummed it was over. Huge thanks to Coach Dave for guiding my daughter to love a sport!

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I can’t believe I let someone talk me into allowing this photo to be taken. I’m the turkey that’s being held up if anyone was uncertain. Please note the ridiculous arm shelf and pegged jeans. Oh, and Brooke Shields called; she wants her eyebrows back.

I could have saved this for Sunday since this is, I think, my junior or senior year of high school, but since the whole family’s involved I couldn’t help making a dedication to one of fave blogs, Awkward Family Photos.

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I should have found a photo of a green pen in honor of Mrs. Shields. One of my humanities professors used to correct all our papers in green pen because “green means go.” She’s quite possibly the most optimistic person I ever met.

Today is National Day On Writing. So I thought I’d trace the story of my book thus far. Hopefully it will be a Wow-look-how-far-you’ve-come kind of thing instead of a you’re-still-at-it? kind of thing. I’m bad with keeping track of time so forgive me that.

Back in 2003ish Josh had a business trip back to CA and I got to go along. No kiddos! It was the first time. I’d been writing a young adult novel that just wasn’t going anywhere. I decided to start a fresh one. I took a notebook to the beach and wrote every day for the whole week. It was very hard because pen on paper was not my thing. I’m more of a delete and ctrl+z kind of girl. So, actual writing forced me to finish a draft. A really shitty draft. There were four mediocre characters and a big rock. Awesome story, right? By the time I got home, I disliked one character so much that I killed her. I needed a new one, one that wasn’t a typical high school stereotype. It dawned me that I had ROTC experience and that might be a unique character.

Three years later, my critique group had helped me build a nice high school book with a Rotcee girl. I showed it to agent. Comment: “This is a pleasant read.” But why did I have a rotcee girl if she’s not going to to go into the military? In my head: Because that sounds like a lot of research. But good Lord, “pleasant read?” That wouldn’t do! She knew how to incite change in me.

So, I considered what would happen if my girl enlisted. I did the research. I wrote and rewrote. My critique group held my hand and pushed me along. Another year later, I showed another agent. To my surprise, I heard words I’d never heard before: “I loved it.” People in the writing business actually say this! If you are unpublished, these words are out there, and they will be said to you. Believe it.

I’m still revising because “I loved it” doesn’t mean “It’s ready.” I’m thankful to be working with someone who is so dedicated to getting it polished ahead of time. Learning the details of boot camp was a lot easier than making my character face difficulty, especially when her values began to drift from mine. But one of my favorite things so far about writing is when my agent says something about the manuscript and I think, “Huh.” Because I know I’m about to make a better story.

Andrew Karre said something once that was fantastic advice. He said, when you finish your book and before you land an agent or an editor, go celebrate that it’s done. It will never be yours again. I’m so glad to have heard those words. It made me appreciate the changes that were to come once I got an agent. They have been many, but they have been great.

Welcome back to the third edition of Self-Deprecating Sunday, where young adult authors come to celebrate their young adulthood. Today I showcase my eighth grade year when I was cheerleader. You gotta appreciate the socks and shoes coordination. I’d bet my fingernails were painted orange and blue, too. Wait…is that the school fight song coming back to me? I think it is…

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Sometimes family traditions are born out of moments which are not fond memories. Tonight we partake in a tradition created during a time that was pretty dark; but this is not a hopeless blog post. The 11-year-old tradition itself is actually a delicious one for our family: we are eating chocolate cake for dinner!

Tonight when Josh announced it, the kids cheered. He asked them if they knew why we did this? Eleanor guessed, “because you love us?” Maggie said, “because it tastes so yummy?” Both answers are sort of right. But the more detailed account goes something like this…

When Eleanor was born, we’d just moved into a tiny apartment in Half Moon Bay, California. We were overwhelmed with the newness of having our first baby: the sweet smell, the tiny pink clothing, that fact that someone let us take this baby home without so much as even passing a test. Everything was sleeping and peeping those first few days, it seemed pretty easy. But then something happened. Something wasn’t right, and she began crying. She cried. And cried. And CRIED. She cried so much that we began to question our parenting skills. Then we questioned her health. We questioned the meaning of life. When no answers seemed to present themselves about why-dear Universe why-was this happening and more importantly why couldn’t we help our child, we became exhausted.

It was a kind of exhaustion I didn’t know existed, which is saying a lot considering I’d just delivered a huge baby. We were confused. We cried too. We couldn’t sleep. We finally couldn’t think straight. We argued. And through it all there was the incessant crying. Our parents were thousands of miles away. We hadn’t made any friends yet. It. Was. Awful. On one particularly bad day, Josh came home from work and found Eleanor and I sitting on the couch right where he’d left us that morning. He said something like, “Let’s just find one thing we can accomplish today. How about making dinner?”

I nodded. I could do that. I walked to the pantry and said, “The first thing I see when I open this door, is what we’re having for dinner.”

It was a box of chocolate cake mix.

We made that cake together, and it was good.

Eleanor, of course, disagreed. But just that once. In all the times we’ve served it since, she’s never shed a tear. I don’t know what the moral of the story is here; it’s not like we make the cake so we can sit around remembering how bad it was back then. I guess it’s just a celebration of how we all pulled through it and how it made us all grow up.

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Casting continues for the movie of my life. I realize I keep casting Josh’s family; I don’t know why they are so much easier to cast than my family and I promise I’ll cast my friends (Amythst Romero, you’re next.) and possibly my bosses. But today belongs to Josh’s other sister, Heidi.

The family is pretty divided on this one, so I’ll be interested to see if they agree with my choice. Heidi has a sharp wit. She is a serious runner. And she’s going to be a lawyer soon! My choice for her is Rachel Griffiths. (And credit goes to Kristin Rueger for suggesting this actress. She nailed it!)

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If you missed the first installment of Self-Deprecating Sunday, then you need to start with this lovely post where I explain that I was basically pretty wackadoo in high school. It’s possibly not surprising I love to write for teens?

Today I feature what I think is my junior year. Yes, when I was seventeen I carried around a Mickey Mouse lunch box. Except, it was NOT my lunch box, no no. It was my purse. That’s right. I was *that* cool. Wait until you see my graduation photo. The Mickey Mouse thing…I don’t know…and I was still going through well into college.